Mortal sin species

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Often appears with: venial sin · sin, guilt, and repentance · justice as a virtue · circumstances · anger and drunkenness

Usually: argument (1) · temptation (1) · curiosity (1) · detachment (1)

Summa Theologica, Part I-II (Pars Prima Secundae) primary

Thomas, Aquinas, Saint · c. 1265–1273
PART I-II ("Prima Secundae") > Part (Suppl., Q. 78, A. 1, Obj. 1). If, however, it be true, as others hold, that they will never die, (an opinion which Jerome mentions among others in a letter to Minerius, on the Resurrection of the Body--Ep. cxix), then we must say in reply to the objection, that although they are not to die, the debt of death is none the less in them, and that the punishment of death will be remitted by God, since (46/52)

Thomas claims a circumstance cannot make a venial sin mortal unless it adds deformity from another species, so time or frequency alone does not change the sin’s species without added factors like contempt.

acquire a new species through being repeated or prolonged, unless by chance something supervene in the repeated or prolonged act to change its species, e.g. disobedience, contempt, or the like. We must therefore reply to the objection by saying that since anger is a movement of the soul tending to the hurt of one's neighbor, if the angry movement tend to a hurt which is a mortal sin generically, such as murder or ro…